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  • Forgive Me, Lord, for Making You Weep

    Luke 19 gives us a powerful picture of Jesus making his final entry into Jerusalem. The image is of Christ approaching the city on a donkey to shouts of praise from great throngs. He started at the Mount of Olives, and the closer he got to the city gate the larger the crowds grew. Soon the people were casting down their garments before him, waving palm branches and crying, “He’s here! The hour has come for the king of Israel to arrive. Peace has come to Jerusalem. Finally, the kingdom is here!”

  • The Coming of the Lord

    When I was a boy, the cry of the church was, “Jesus is coming! Like a thief in the night, he will return when you least expect him. He’ll come in the twinkling of an eye, with the sound of the trumpet. Be ready at all times.”

    Throughout my teenage years, this cry was heard at every Sunday meeting. Every evangelist who came to preach in my father’s church had a stirring message about the soon return of Christ. Their cries are burned into my memory. And the message formed in me a godly fear and expectancy. I learned to live expecting the Lord to return at any moment.

  • The Touch of God

    Daniel testified, "Behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands" (Daniel 10:10). The word for "touched" here means to violently seize upon. Daniel was saying, "When God placed his hand on me, it put me on my face. His touch gave me an urgency to seek him with all that's in me."

    This happens anytime God touches someone's life. That person falls to his knees. And he becomes a man or woman of prayer, driven to seek the Lord.

  • The Secret of Spiritual Strength

    The prophet Isaiah pronounced a woe upon Israel: "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 30:1). The Hebrew word for woe here signifies a deep sorrow and grief. What had God's people done to hurt him so deeply? And why did he call them rebellious? After all, these weren't heathen; they were his own children. What awful sin did they commit that caused him to say they were rebellious?

    The word Isaiah uses for rebellion in this verse means backsliding, stubbornness, a turning away. What, exactly, were God's people turning away from? And what caused their backsliding?

  • Tempting the Lord!

    "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."

  • The Perils and Sorrows of a Contrite Heart

    To me, one of the most interesting people in the Old Testament is Jacob. Here was a cheating, deceiving, conniving, manipulating, supplanting man - an incredible character. Yet God loved this man dearly! In fact, his life is filled with marvelous lessons for us about God's dealings with human nature.

    I'd like to pick up Jacob's story just as he's fleeing for his life from his older twin brother, Esau. Jacob had already outwitted Esau twice - and now his brother was full of wrath!

  • Taking Up the Towel

    In a famous passage in John 13, Jesus took a towel and a basin and washed the feet of His disciples. He told them:

    "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).

    Some devout Christians take this verse literally. They have made it their custom to have "foot washing" services. This is commendable — yet, if it remains only a ritual, the true meaning of foot washing has been lost.

  • Don't Run From Jezebel

    God intends for every believer to be in full control of his or her life — through the power and might of the Holy Ghost! The Bible makes it clear that our walk is to be ordered by the Lord. David testified, "Those who trust in the Lord will not be confounded" (see Psalm 22:5).

    Your life is not under control, however, if you are being victimized by a spirit of fear, lust, despondency or depression. If you are constantly bombarded with feelings of worthlessness or thoughts of giving up — your life is not under control!

  • Another Jesus, Another Spirit, Another Gospel

    Some time ago a minister called our office, very disturbed. He said he preaches holiness and the crucified life in his church, and he did seem to have a true shepherd's heart. Then he said that some of his church members had attended some kind of special seminar — and they had come home ready to leave his congregation.

    They told him, "God has brought us into a new revelation that has changed our lives. We heard things we've never heard before. We thought we were saved before, but now we know we weren't. Everything we believed about the end times was wrong. We have seen new truth.

  • Beware of a Satanic Setup

    Paul introduced the possibility of a fall into a satanic setup in his letters to Timothy. He understood the dangers of a satanic trap or snare: "...lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Timothy 3:7). But he also gave us a recovery from that satanic trap: "...they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will" (2 Timothy 2:26).